Riverhead rally planned to push Washington to prioritize path to citizenship

Immigration advocacy groups are holding a march and rally on Saturday in downtown Riverhead to urge Washington to pass legislation allowing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants living and working locally and nationwide.

Organizers behind the "Pathway to Citizenship March and Rally" said they will push for Congress to enact immigration reform immediately by keeping provisions in the pending budget reconciliation bill that provide a pathway to citizenship for farmworkers, essential workers and DACA and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients.

Sandra Dunn, associate director of OLA of Eastern Long Island, told Newsday that during the COVID-19 pandemic many immigrants on the East End and nationwide have worked in essential industries yet have no legal protection.

"It’s high time that the federal government does what it is supposed to do on this," Dunn said, citing New York Immigration Coalition statistics that 50,000 to 80,000 Long Islanders would be eligible for a pathway to citizenship.

Immigration advocates are worried about the prospects of including immigration reforms in the pending U.S. Senate budget bill. Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough said last month that a plan issued by Democrats to allow roughly 8 million immigrants nationwide to apply for permanent legal status cannot be included in the budget reconciliation process.

Sister Margaret Smyth of the North Fork Spanish Apostolate said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) had promised that immigration reforms would be a part of the agenda in Washington.

"I meet people who have TPS for 15 years and they don’t know if it’s going to be renewed," Smyth said. "In the meantime, they’re paying taxes, they’re contributing to the country, they’re working very hard and being integrated to our society, their children are going to school and they still don’t know where they stand in the country."

Noemi Sánchez, Long Island associate coordinator for the Rural and Migrant Ministry, which has offices in Riverhead, said many immigrants who are without documentation have been working and paying taxes for years, and they want a chance to become permanent citizens.

"We know that without immigrants, this country is not the same," Sánchez said. "So we’re starting locally. That way, the state can hear not what we want on this issue, but what we need. Sometimes, that’s what’s needed to make change in this country."

Saturday’s rally starts at noon at the North Fork Spanish Apostolate at St. Johns Place and will head toward the Peconic Riverfront Park.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated the time of the rally, which begins at noon.